The Last Unicorn in Katolis
by HisValentine
Summary: Soren, Claudia, and Corvus go on a successful hunting trip.


"Your sister and I are going to track it down, and if we have to chase it, we'll send it this way, okay? Otherwise, watch the horses," was what Corvus had told Soren. Claudia, meanwhile, had been applying her magical sight, hissing in pain as she dropped a liquid into each eye that made them smoke and turn black. After she fought through the initial agony, though, she became able to see the shimmering trails of magic that their quarry had left behind as it brushed past trees and stepped across the earth.

"It's been here!" she said, clapping her hands as she showed Corvus which tracks were the freshest. Soon, Soren couldn't see them past the forest, so he turned his attention to the horses, which had been hitched to different trees. He went to Claudia's first, and she stretched her neck out to Soren as he rubbed along it, enjoying the loving touch.

They both liked animals, but sometimes Claudia saw them more as tools than as living beings. As a result, she tended to let the stable hands care for her steed whenever she didn't require its use, and neither had she taken the time to learn how to groom the creature during their longer outings, like now. So it fell upon Soren to detangle the black horse's mane, and as he did that carefully he also asked, "Did you step on any rocks? I better check, just to be sure, huh?"

He patted both Corvus's horse and then his own as he went to grab his horse husbandry kit out of his saddlebag. His horse nickered at him, wanting his attention. "Don't worry, you're next," he assured the white stallion. Then he noticed that the horse wasn't looking at him, but instead somewhere behind him. He turned and found what they'd been searching for, gasping at the sight.

It was shaped like a horse, but the size of a moose at least, and it shimmered despite the lack of sunlight coming through the canopy of trees. Perhaps that was because of the singular shining horn that adored its regal head, the edge glinting as it lowered itself to carefully regard Soren.

Soren found his hand stilled by the intelligence in its gaze. The unicorn wasn't just looking at him, but into him, he felt. He realized something, as their eyes met. He couldn't- wouldn't be able to bring himself to complete their mission. This was despite the fact that his father had sent him specifically to kill this beautiful survivor. That's what he saw now as he took in the unicorn's coat, as white as the driven snow yet pocked with arrow scars. The last unicorn of Katolis, if the stories held true. All the others had either fled to Xadia or else been hunted down.

The unicorn broke the gaze first, closing its eyes slowly and then bowing further. The end of its horn glowed with magic as it lowered, Soren crossed his eyes to watch the needle-thin tip come closer but somehow he wasn't afraid-

"Sor-bear!" Claudia called out as she crashed back into the clearing, stumbling. "Leave my brother alone!" she cried out as she took in the sight, getting the attention of both Soren and the unicorn.

The unicorn took one look at the young dark mage and let out a fearful whinny, backing away from Soren before it turned and started to flee. Soren felt his heart drop as he saw that Claudia was digging through her bag and pulling out the primal stone that Dad had borrowed to her for this mission.

"Claudia, wait, I don't think-!"

"_Fulminus_!" Claudia gestured and incanted, lightning raced across the clearing and struck the great magical beast, bringing it down as it crashed through the underbrush. It continued to seize once it had skidded to a stop on the ground.

Corvus hadn't been much further behind, and he was the one who'd actually slit the throat of the creature, ending its life once and for all. Soren watched with a sense of abject regret as the life drained from its thoughtful blue eyes and into the bowl that Claudia was quick to prop beneath the mortal wound. She also went through the more esoteric process of harvesting it's dying breath, or at least that's what she claimed the smaller jar contained after holding it to the unicorn's snout as she incanted and it perished, with its head in her lap but its eyes turned to Soren.

Soren turned away as Corvus took over to do the even grislier job of gutting their trophy and field dressing it, separating the magically useful bits from the rest. The horn, of course, was the prize, but most of the unicorn would be coming back with them in the end, as Corvus had brought along a fold-out game cart that the horses would pull.

"Soren, what were you doing!? You were just standing there! It could have killed you!" Claudia fussed as she walked up behind him, trying to make him turn back around. When he didn't, she walked around to face him, pouting imploringly at him.

"It wasn't going to," Soren told her.

"Well, then, why weren't you doing something?" she asked, a little more accusingly now. "You were the one who said you wanted to do this," she reminded him. It was only after Soren had expressed interest in it that she'd decided to come along, and then their father had additionally enlisted the help of one of the best trackers in the Kingdom, a man by the name of Corvus.

"Yeah, but that was before..." he saw the weirded-out look Claudia was giving him and sighed, not trusting her to get it even if he found the words to explain. "Nevermind. Let's just get back to Dad with the parts."


End file.
